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We introduce the AusTraits database - a compilation of values of plant traits for taxa in the Australian flora (hereafter AusTraits). AusTraits synthesises data on 448 traits across 28,640 taxa from field campaigns, published literature, taxonomic monographs, and individual taxon descriptions. Traits vary in scope from physiological measures of performance (e.g. photosynthetic gas exchange, water-use efficiency) to morphological attributes (e.g. leaf area, seed mass, plant height) which link to aspects of ecological variation. AusTraits contains curated and harmonised individual- and species-level measurements coupled to, where available, contextual information on site properties and experimental conditions. This article provides information on version 3.0.2 of AusTraits which contains data for 997,808 trait-by-taxon combinations. We envision AusTraits as an ongoing collaborative initiative for easily archiving and sharing trait data, which also provides a template for other national or regional initiatives globally to fill persistent gaps in trait knowledge.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Synthesizing trait observations and knowledge across the Tree of Life remains a grand challenge for biodiversity science. Species traits are widely used in ecological and evolutionary science, and new data and methods have proliferated rapidly. Yet accessing and integrating disparate data sources remains a considerable challenge, slowing progress toward a global synthesis to integrate trait data across organisms. Trait science needs a vision for achieving global integration across all organisms. Here, we outline how the adoption of key Open Science principles-open data, open source and open methods-is transforming trait science, increasing transparency, democratizing access and accelerating global synthesis. To enhance widespread adoption of these principles, we introduce the Open Traits Network (OTN), a global, decentralized community welcoming all researchers and institutions pursuing the collaborative goal of standardizing and integrating trait data across organisms. We demonstrate how adherence to Open Science principles is key to the OTN community and outline five activities that can accelerate the synthesis of trait data across the Tree of Life, thereby facilitating rapid advances to address scientific inquiries and environmental issues. Lessons learned along the path to a global synthesis of trait data will provide a framework for addressing similarly complex data science and informatics challenges.

Aim: Dispersal and environmental filtering processes affect plant species colonisation success on islands and can be identified by functional traits. However, the lack of synthesis about the different methodological approaches in functional ecology hampers generalisation of filtering processes across island systems. Location: Seventy islands of the Houtman Abrolhos archipelago, Western Australia. Major Taxa Studied: Angiosperms. Methods: We (i) apply a simple, conceptual framework based on the mean and variability of individual functional traits in plant assemblages to identify species filters on islands, (ii) illustrate how trait distributions of island assemblages change in relation to island area and their source pool, (iii) compare distributions of individual traits to multivariate functional diversity indices and trait spaces and (iv) provide guidelines to detect a signal of trait filtering in island floras. Results: The island assemblages showed evidence for selective filters operating on seed mass and marginally on leaf area but not on plant height. Mean and variability of seed mass differed to those of the source pool indicating selective forces operating between source pool and island assemblages, especially on smaller islands. Multivariate functional diversity indices and trait spaces failed to reveal filtering processes acting on the island assemblages and insights into the putative processes. Main Conclusions: Using the mean and variability of individual traits in plant assemblages provides direct information on the trait composition of island floras and the processes involved beyond what can be inferred from multivariate functional diversity indices or trait spaces. We used islands as their distinct boundaries and relatively simple sets of species provide good research models, but joint analyses of trait means and variability should also be applicable to understand filtering processes in isolates and habitat fragments on mainlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing frequency and severity of heatwaves will intensify stress on plants. Given regional variation in heatwave exposure and expected differences in thermal tolerance between species it is unlikely that all plant species will be affected equally by climate change. However, little is currently known about variation in the responses of plants to heat stress, or how those responses differ among closely related species adapted to different environments. Here we quantify the response of 17 Acacia species (175 RNA‐seq libraries), from across Australia's diverse biomes, to a multi‐day experimental heatwave treatment to identify variation in transcriptomic and physiological responses to heat stress. Genes with known heat response functions showed consistent responses across Acacia species. Up to 10% of all genes and over 100 gene families showed significant clinal variation in the magnitude of their expression plasticity across species. Specifically, gene families linked to the temperature stress response were overrepresented among significant relationships with home range temperature conditions. Gene expression responses seen on the first day of the heatwave were more frequently associated with home range climates, while expression responses by day four were more commonly related to photosystem II acclimation. Comparative transcriptomics on non‐model species has the potential to provide key information on stress response plasticity, especially when linked with our understanding of model species. Our study indicates that the pressing challenge to identifying potentially vulnerable species to climate change could be benefited by the further exploration of clinal variation in transcriptome plasticity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When leaves exceed their thermal threshold during heatwaves, irreversible damage to the leaf can accumulate. However, few studies have explored short-term acclimation of leaves to heatwaves that could help plants to prevent heat damage with increasing heatwave intensity. Here, we studied the heat tolerance of PSII (PHT) in response to a heatwave in Acacia species from across a strong environmental gradient in Australia. We compared PHT metrics derived from temperature-dependent chlorophyll fluorescence response curves (T–F 0) before and during a 4-day 38°C heatwave in a controlled glasshouse experiment. We found that the 15 Acacia species displayed surprisingly large and consistent PHT acclimation responses with a mean tolerance increase of 12°C (range, 7.7–19.1°C). Despite species originating from diverse climatic regions, neither maximum temperature of the warmest month nor mean annual precipitation at origin were clear predictors of PHT. To our knowledge, these are some of the largest measured acclimation responses of PHT from a controlled heatwave experiment. This remarkable capacity could partially explain why this genus has become more diverse and common as the Australian continent became more arid and suggests that the presence of Acacia in Australian ecosystems will remain ubiquitous with climate change. The tolerance of plants to extreme temperatures is important for the future of ecosystems. Recent studies of rapid acclimation in plants typically find low acclimation capacity (+1–3°C) in response to heatwaves. By contrast, in 15 Acacia species, we find consistent, unprecedented acclimation capacity to heatwaves (+12°C) irrespective of climatic origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The Equilibrium Theory of Island Biogeography (ETIB) posits that species richness on islands represents a dynamic equilibrium between immigration and extinction. ETIB makes predictions about numbers of species and biogeographical rates, but not about species identities or functional traits. However, functional traits provide additional information in understanding the assembly of island biotas. Here, we build on ETIB's principle of community equilibria and investigate how these processes affect plant functional traits over time. Location: Fifteen islands from 164 m2 to 19 km2 in Western Australia. Taxon: Angiosperms. Methods: We assembled an island‐trait dataset linking seed mass, plant height and leaf area of 156 species to their occurrences on 15 islands sampled four times within four decades. We estimated community trait means and functional diversity for each island and sampling period and tested whether both remained at equilibrium over time. Using linear models, we tested whether temporal species turnover is linked to specific traits. We used generalised linear mixed‐effect models to test for the effect of environmental characteristics on species and trait turnover. Results: Species richness on the islands was at equilibrium as predicted by ETIB despite high species temporal turnover. Functional diversity and community trait means also were stable over time. Species most susceptible to turnover were on average smaller and had lower seed mass than persisting species. Environmental island characteristics had no strong effect in explaining species and trait turnover. Main conclusions We provide evidence that ETIB can be extended to functional traits, which we suggest to term Equilibrium Theory of Island Biogeography for Traits. Trait equilibria on islands suggest that locally extinct species are replaced by new ones sharing similar traits. Being small with light seeds increases both immigration probability and extinction risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]